For most people in America, all those not familiar with the complicated ideological positioning on the right end of the political spectrum, the term “conservative” evokes images of the board room, the country club, and the Episcopal church located not far from the latter. In other words, the . . . . Continue Reading »
Who has been handing out these permission slips?” asks a writer of our acquaintance. He wants to know who determined that it is alright again to tell racist jokes in polite society, or to publish columns suggesting, none too gingerly, that Jews have excessive influence in American life. Who . . . . Continue Reading »
Authority is an issue that occupies a central place in current ecumenical discussion among the churches and it is one of enormous social and political importance as well. Accordingly, while the arguments that follow are directed most particularly to the question of authority in the churches, they . . . . Continue Reading »
Americans: The View From Abroadby james c. simmonscrown, 239 pages, $19.95 A zealous convert once decided to grade his own spiritual progress and under “humility” wrote: “97 percent.” The moral of the story is that, on matters of religion, you don’t grade yourself; others must do it for . . . . Continue Reading »
It has become commonplace in the last year or so to refer to “the end of the Cold War” and the “collapse of Communism.” Sometimes it is even noted—by people concerned more with accuracy than etiquette—that America and the West won the Cold War. But the end of the Cold War, our . . . . Continue Reading »
(Editors’ note: The October issue of First Things featured Phillip Johnson’s essay, “Evolution as Dogma: The Establishment of Naturalism,” along with responses to the essay by William B. Provine, Gareth Nelson, Irving Kristol, Thomas H. Jukes, and Matthew Berke. Herewith Professor . . . . Continue Reading »
Confronting the Constitution: The Challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and the Federalists from Utilitarianism, Historicism, Marxism, Freudianism, Pragmatism, Existentialism edited by allan bloom aei press, 552 pages, $24.95 Everywhere the institutions and ethos of democratic governance . . . . Continue Reading »
Catholics in America have rarely taken the study of their history seriously. My own educational circumstances, which were hardly unique, may illustrate the point. In nineteen years (1956-75) of a generally excellent Catholic education in church-sponsored schools and seminaries, I never once was . . . . Continue Reading »
The Jesuits and the Third Reich by vincent a. lapomarda, s. j. the edwin mellen press, 375 pages, $39.95 At the beginning of this valuable study, Vincent A. Lapomarda, who is Curator of the Hiatt Collection of Holocaust Materials at Holy Cross College, allows that Catholics have not recounted . . . . Continue Reading »
Congress has created the Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission. To date, twenty-two states have established similar commissions to coordinate a wide range of activities celebrating the discovery of America. The National Council of Churches (NCC) is having none of it. In May the . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
